Decazeville. La Truyère changed the course of history and the Basin

More than 80 people attended a nature day at the Grand-Vabre village hall, planned by the village tourist office. The afternoon was divided into three parts. First of all, there was the broadcast of Hélène Sirieys' documentary film on the Dourdou river, as part of the landscape study of the Conques major site in France project, punctuated by a debate with director Laure Vigouroux . The history of this watercourse with its fluctuating flow and the way in which today's residents and farmers perceive this small river were developed.

For the record, it should be added that in the 1970s, a Parisian firm undertook a study so that the Dourdou would no longer flow red or at least to attenuate its coloring in the event of heavy rainfall, “dirtying” the Lot at the level of Grand -Vabre. A study with no future, knowing that the Dourdou “spits” its red – as the ancients said -, quite simply by carrying the alluvium and crossing the red of the Marcillac valley. Then, André Romiguière, who carries out extensive research on the Lot and the Decazeville Basin, went back through industrial history, highlighting the vital importance of this river as an artery of communication at the beginning of the 19th century: “It is also ironic to note that the Lot transported the rails manufactured in the Basin and which would lead to the loss of river navigation with the advent of rail transport.”

Finally, Christian Bernad, former president of the association for the development of the Lot valley, announced a geological event little known until then: in very ancient times, the Truyère flowed into the Allier much further north. It was a volcanic accident in Auvergne which diverted the watercourse towards the south and caused it to flow into the Lot, at Entraygues.

“You realize, the Lot would have had half of its current beginning. It would have experienced river activity, certainly, but much less than that which it experienced. Would the river have been canalized, locked? The bargemen could they have brought back the famous stockfish which made it possible to diversify the diet and offer a local culinary tradition? Could the mines and factories of Decazeville and the Bassin have sold their production? possible that the urban basin that we know would have remained a set of small, pleasant but modest towns”glisse Christian Bernad.